Turret for ships of war



(N0 Mddel.)

W. H. BUSTIN. Turret for Ships of Wear.

Patented May 24, 188k M ENTQR ATTORNEY W lTN ESS ES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. BUSTIN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TURRET FOR SHIPS OF WAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,843, dated May 24, 1881.

Application filed August 7, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. Human, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Turrets for Ships of War; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of a vertical central section. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the turret, and Figs. 3 and 4 are details.

This invention has relation to improvements in turrets for monitors, iron-clads, and fortifications generally; and it consists in the construction and novel arrangement of parts, as hereinafter shown and described.

ln the annexed drawings, the letter A (lesignates a vessel of the monitor class, in oonnection with which my invention will be illustrated but I do not wish to be understood as confining myself to this class of vessel solely in the practical application of my invention.

B is a revolving platform formed in the deck of the vessel, upon which the guns are mounted, and which is operated by the usual mechanism; and U is the turret, mounted upon the deck of the vessel over the platform B, and forming, with the deck-plating of the vessel, a flush joint. The turret is securely bolted by its base-flange a to the deck, deck-beams, or other solid support, and it is immovable, the guns being successively trained fore and aft, or to either side, by the rotation of the platform in the proper direction. The top of the turret is rounded off, as indicated in Fig. 1, its top being nearly flat, and the sides of the turret are ofthe form ofan ogee curve reversed, a vertical section of the turret from its vertex to its edge being so shaped that the convex curvature of the upper part gradually merges into the concave curvature of the lower part, as shown in the drawings, the curves merging imperceptibly into each other about the middie of the height of the turret, and being described as follows: The upper curvature in vertical section, with a radius having its center within the turret, and the lower curvature with a radius of equal, or nearly equal, length, having its center without.

(No model.)

In the sides of the turret at proper intervals are the oblique ports of preferably circular form, through which the guns are run out when they are ready to be discharged, the port-shutter 8 being raised by the nozzle of the gun. These shutters are received snugly in an annular rabbet, r, on the edge of the port, and are hinged to the turret in any suitable manner; but usually each shutter is provided with a tang, t, which fits snugly in a recess, z, of the turret, and is confined thereto by a through-bolt, c. When the gun is run in the shutter falls automatically and closes the port. At a sufficient height above the guns not to interfere with their working is a light gallery, B, secured to the inside of the turret; and in the turret-walls are made the small loopholes 0 above said gallery, throu gh which sharpshooters may pick off the enemy without being themselves exposed.

This turret may be built up of superposed iron or steel plates with a metallic or wooden backing, or in any other approved way, and is applicable, with equally good results, to harbor and coast defenses, to fortifications, and to other otl'ensive and defensive purposes.

I am aware that it is not new to provide a dome-shaped turret for war-vessels and fortifications, and I do not claim such invention; nor do I claim it to be my invention to make such a turret with a comparatively small inward curvature around its lower portion, as such a curvature approaches to angular form and is not designed to effect the result at which I have aimed; neither do I claim to have invented shooting galleries in turrets, broadly.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In the fixed oblique curved dome-shaped turret O, the shooting gallery or ledge B in the upper port-ion, above the guns, the rifleholes 0 above the same, the oblique port-holes 1) below the same, the oblique falling covers 8,

and the rotating gun platform B, as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. BUSTIN.

Witnesses FRANK J. MASI, WALLIS G. MASI. 

